Because of the visitor’s promise to return my plate, I was now keeping myself in a state of constant alertness. I set my telescope up on the property of Palomar Gardens in a spot where I could have an unobstructed view of the far distance, including a long expanse of the ocean, this being the type of scenery afforded from these acres on the slopes of Palomar mountain.
On the morning of 13 December 1952 I was alerted by something in the vicinity by jets roaring overhead. Far out I saw a flash, and then it disappeared. I remarked to others present that something was out there and it might be the ship I had met on the desert trying to return my holder.
I wondered if the jets had succeeded in chasing it away, or if it would wait until they had left, and try again.
About 9 o’clock I again saw a flash in the sky and tried to set my telescope on it. The sky was now clear of our planes and I was in hopes the saucer I saw out there would be able to make it safely in, if that was their plan.
Sure enough, as I watched steadily I was able to observe it gliding noiselessly in my direction—an iridescent
glass-like craft flashing its brilliant colours in the morning sun ! Spellbound I watched. With an empty spot where my
stomach should have been and chills of anticipation running up and down my spine. On it came ! It was as if the pilot
of this craft knew I was there and was waiting ! A warm glow of hope filled my being and I thought That’s my
friend. I’m going to see him again ! Maybe he will land here. Maybe...
But it was too much to hope for. As it came over the nearby valley, about 2000 feet to 3000 feet from me and approximately 300 feet to 500 feet above the valley, it seemed to stop and hover motionlessly.
With utmost will power I restrained my excitement in an effort to get a really good picture this time. Quickly I took two shots. Then realising that the ship was too near to get the whole of it in the picture with the camera in that position, I turned the camera on the eyepiece and took another shot while it was still hovering. I shot the fourth picture just as the ship was beginning to move again.
Later, upon being finished, the first three of these pictures proved to show good detail, while the fourth—taken in motion —turned out fuzzy, but is still good.
While changing the position of the camera on the eyepiece, I took careful note of the size of this saucer by making mental calculations and comparisons with known distances. Instead of being 20 pieds in diameter as I had guessed it to be while on the desert, I found it was approximately 35 pieds to 36 pieds in diameter n1On 9 Monday a small fleet of ‘Scout Ships’, identical in appearance to the one that landed at Desert Center, were seen over Franklin (Va). They were reported as being 35 feet - 38 feet in diameter, and of silvery material that occasionally threw off a red glow. Their cabins had round windows that cast a bluish colour. They were chased by jet planes which were soon outdistanced and left to chase empty air. . And as far as I could judge, it was between 15 pieds to 20 pieds in height.
As it approached probably within 100 pieds of me, and to one side, one of the portholes was opened slightly, a hand was extended and the selfsame holder which my space-man friend had carried away with him on November 20 was dropped to the ground. As the holder was released, the hand appeared to wave slightly just before the craft passed beyond me.
I watched the holder drop and strike a rock as it hit the ground. Walking over and picking it up, I noticed it had been dented a little on the corner where it had struck the rock. Carefully I picked it up with a handkerchief from my pocket, and wrapped it so that if there was anything inside, or if there were fingerprints on the outside, I would not damage them.
The plate identified the craft as being the same one I had seen on the desert, and the waving hand indicated to me that the one who dropped the holder was the man whom I had met.
My elation can be imagined. Again I was raised in consciousness and forced to sense the awareness of being in two worlds at the same time.
Passing beyond me, the craft crossed a small ravine on the property as it moved towards the base of the mountains to the north. Dropping below the treetops, its path of travel took it very close to the well and one cabin on the upper part of the property, and there it was seen and photographed by others whom I had previously alerted.
It took me only a few seconds to cross the ravine to see in which direction the craft was going, if it were still visible. It had already passed over our property; but beyond, low above the treetops and close to the base of the mountains in the background, I could clearly see the saucer as it moved rapidly toward the east, disappearing in the blue haze of the morning.
Enraptured with the realisation that my friend from outer space had made a return visit, my only thought now was to get to the photographer’s to see what I had been successful in capturing. So even though it was Saturday and normally a busy day for us, I asked to be taken to Carlsbad, 40 miles away, to have the film developed. But I did not take the holder which had been dropped. I put it stealthily away. I wanted to keep it until I decided exactly what I wanted to do with it.
My intense curiosity regarding the exposed films was not to be satisfied that day. The photographer was out. And he would not be back for hours ! But his wife promised that he would finish the pictures that night and that if anything of interest was there, they would bring them up the next day.
True to this promise, Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Detwiler, the photographer and his wife, came up about noon on Sunday to show us what I had succeeded in getting. All of the pictures were extremely good, with the finest detail I have ever seen in any saucer photographs.
For a few days I kept the holder as I had picked it up. I was questioning whether to offer it to the papers for finishing, or to have M. Detwiler do it. Also I was trying to decide fully whether or not to have fingerprints taken off it, if there were any. Finally I decided against letting them remain since they would have been as identifying as the photographs. And since the Venusian had not wanted his picture taken, I would not try to betray him by having his fingerprints made.
After coming to this decision, I took the holder, still as I had wrapped it when picking it up, to my regular photographer. Neither of us was sure there was anything in the holder, but just to be safe, he suggested that we open it in the dark room, and if anything was there, he would put it through the usual finishing process. His reason was that if the film had been developed, this process would not hurt it. But if it had not been finished, it would thus be protected.
When the finishing was done, and with witnesses present, and a print was made, there were indications of the original photo — which I had taken before the space visitor took the holder— being washed off; and this was replaced by a strange photograph and a symbolic message, which to this day has not been fully deciphered. Several scientists are working on it. They are also still working on deciphering the markings of the footprints. It may be some time before they all feel that either of these messages is decoded to a satisfactory degree.
At my request, representatives of two Governmental agencies came up to see me. These men listened intently to my detailed description of all that had taken place, but they registered no surprise. Nor did they express any doubt regarding the truthfulness of my statements. They did not even question me. These men were highly intelligent men and well poised and it may be part of their jobs to display no reaction toward anything reported to them. But my reaction toward their attitude was that they realised I was giving them just another report of a type of happening not unfamiliar to them.
They did take a couple of my photographs of the craft, as well as a print from the dropped negative, which I gave to them.
And now as I conclude this earnest and serious recounting of what was truly the greatest experience that ever happened to me in my 62 years of Earthly life I realise that it may strain the credulity of many a reader, particularly those readers who have given little serious thought to the subject of flying saucers. I realise, too, that this whole subject has for certain oblique reasons not here discussed been beset by much ‘double talk‘ and because of this the subject has become, publicly speaking, a major mystery.
However, the truth about flying saucers does exist. There are space visitors in our midst. And they are here for a purpose. We may as well search out and acquaint ourselves with this truth and address ourselves to its challenges and ultimatums.
Surface-thinkers might like to conclude that I had had a very original dream. Or that I may be out to make money for myself in the field of science fiction. I can assure such persons that nothing is farther from the truth.
In the first place, consider that the sky is a tremendous expanse and those on the ground with minds also ‘grounded’ by earthly urgencies are necessarily little aware of what goes on up there. Visibility itself is short-ranged and fleeting. How much does the average person know of the comings and goings of even our Air Force, or of civilian air transportation ? Who, then, is to deny the reports of saucer sightings that over the years are piling up into the thousands ? Or who dares deny the authenticity of saucer photographs that are also piling up ? These sightings are world-wide.
But my word alone is not all that backs the foregoing story. There are those witnesses who solemnly stand to corroborate it. In addition, I have the tangible returned film bearing its strange message; and the cast of the footprints bearing also their enigmatical message. I relayed to my companions the promise of the spaceman that he would return the borrowed film and twenty-three days later one of them saw him return it and so keep that promise. And I have photographs to substantiate the fact that this promised return visit did take place. I cannot see where very much more substantiation can be needed nor expected unless it were merely numerical in nature. And by no stretch of the imagination can the craft in the photographs be called Earth craft
Now I am hoping that the spaceman will return again, and that then I will be granted more time to visit with him. Believe me, I am saving up questions. And many of my friends are also accumulating questions. Couldn’t it be possible that he might actually let me have a ride in his ship of the Great Ethers ? 81 He would not have to invite me twice.
81/ ‘Ether’ in its metaphysical meaning rather than that connoted by modern physics.
A deep analysis of events of the past makes me firmly believe that these people from other planets are our friends. I am convinced that their desire and their object is to help us and perhaps to protect us from even ourselves, as well as that they mean to ensure the safety and balance of the other planets in our system.
But if we continue on the path of hostility between nations of Earth, and if we continue to show an attitude of indifference, ridicule and even aggression toward our fellow-men in space, I am firmly convinced they could take powerful action against us, not with weapons of any kind, but by manipulation of the natural force of the universe which they understand and know how to use. I barely brushed against this force as it was being used in a subdued degree, yet I felt the effects of it for several weeks after the encounter.
I have but one sincere purpose in narrating the foregoing experience: my most urgent message and plea to every person who reads it is:
Let us be friendly. Let us recognise and welcome the men from other worlds ! THEY ARE HERE AMONG US. Let us be wise enough to learn from those who can teach us much — who will be our friends if we will but let them !
